Passenger restrained mid -flight forces United Airlines flight to divert

A United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Chicago was forced to make an unplanned landing in Denver in the early hours on Monday, February 10, after a passenger became disturbing and aggressive to crew.

The incident unfolded on United Airlines Flight 1484, a Red-Eye service from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to Chicago O’Hare International Airport (words), and was described as “scary” by a witness on board.

A passenger’s first -hand account was Shared on Reddit‘SR/UNITEDAIRLINES SUDPRODDIT. The disturbance began when a man repeatedly went up the hallway towards the front of the plane and participated in heated confrontations with the crew.

At one point, the situation escalated as the passenger began to shout loudly and incoherent.

“It was nonsensical. Seemed as a kind of mental episode. At one point it escalated into a big physical quarrel, and several passengers had to hurry out of their seats to help the crew with this person and have him detained,” poster Metroidde47 said at Reddit.

Newsweek reached out to U/Metroidude47 via Reddit for comment.

United Airlines confirmed the incident and told Newsweek: “United Flight 1484 from San Francisco to Chicago landed in Denver early Monday morning after a customer became disturbing and aggressive with a flight. Law enforcement met Chicago.”

The Reddit user expressed relief and praise for the quick response of the crew and fellow passengers, and the post quickly gained attention with thousands of upvotes and over 200 comments.

A commentator who said they were a member of the flight crew, wrote, “Glad that everyone is in order. I was one of the flying who helped the crew.”

Others praised the actions of people in the plane. “Glad everyone was fine and the guy wasn’t violent with other pax or the crew. Nice that passengers helped limit the guy! Teamwork!” Sent a Reddit user.

“Wow. Scary. Lovely work people,” read another comment. Another Reddit user compared the quarrel with another regular flight of flights and said, “But let’s continue to complain about crying babies.”

The Federal Aviation Administration has reported that the rate of unruly passenger events has fallen by over 80 percent since the beginning of 2021. By 2024, airlines reported more than 1,240 irregular passenger boxes, and FAA has now referred to more than 310 of the most serious cases to the FBI since the end of 2021.